Planning Ahead. . .

I moved to this lovely state one year ago. We pulled up the last day of September and the truck arrived on October first. When I try to remember just how our yard looked I have merely a vague memory. I remember thinking how lovely it was. It was, after all, October and there were trees and green shrubs still, and roses blooming in the side yard--which was a heck of a lot more than I could say for the plot of ground I had left behind.

My biggest anticipation was to see what popped up come spring. Would there be daffodils? Tulips? Maybe some hyacinths, or other lovely plants indigenous to this prolific state that I had yet to learn the names of?

Nope. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I think I owned the only house in the area without something blooming--and weeds don't count. Although, all the fields nearby were blooming in carefree abandon with wildflowers. But not my yard.

So last week I went out and bought all of these:

And I planted them in bunches about my yard. So in addition to all the work we have put into our yard this summer, I WILL have spring flowers come May. . .maybe sooner. I can't wait.

The Saga of the Front Porch Rocker. . .

About five years ago I decided I needed rocking chairs on my front porch. It just makes the house feel homey, and gives you somewhere to sit.

It's the All American Dream. . .isn't it? The house, the front porch, the rocker. . .watching the world go by--or at least the neighbor's cat.

So anyway. I had my eye on these simple white rockers at Walmart because they were cheap (all others I had found where $150 or more) and they were cute. Every year I would say to my husband, "We should buy those rockers. They would be really cute on our porch."

He would put me off somehow, convinced that they might actually be tacky. Every year I would suggest we buy them and we'd go through it again. Or we'd say,"They won't fit in the car with all the kids, so we'll get them without the kids." Only we never did.

So this year the rockers show up a little fancier and cost more. And I still want them. So we watch and watch for them to go on sale. And I often remind Rob, "If we would have bought them last year we would have paid less." Summer ends. They never go on sale. They are almost out of them. We break down and buy them. We get home and discover they are missing essential hardware to put them together.

And our daughter looks at them and says, "Why did you get white? If you got black they would have matched the shutters."

Brilliant.

Why didn't I think of that? Then Rob sees they have nicer, simpler, better built rockers--in black--at Lowes. So we return the whites ones and after two trips to two Lowes we have two black rockers. AND, I love them.

A Little Yard Improvement. . .

I have lofty goals for my yard. But first I have the gargantuan task of reclaiming control of my yard. This included taking out a couple trees and bushes and some major weeding. Here are a couple successful areas so far.

My front yard:

From blocked by tree. . .

To Roots Spawned by Satan. . .

To lovely seeded grass (we hope)--after hours of torture.

My back corner was almost painless.

It went from this:

To this, with only weeding, rock picking and stepping stone placing. I just should have taken it's picture before leaves started falling on it!

Two down. . .oh so much more to do.

Tree House Update

We have slowly been working on the tree house all summer in between vacations and yard work and general pandemonium. We are nearing completion. Which is good now that school is starting tomorrow. At least it has a roof, so they can still play in the rain! Here is the most recent pic of our progress. . .

Tree House Progress. . .

We have eeked out a little work on the tree house over the last week. We were gone over the fourth and got nothing done. But this weekend we will be working on the roof. I will keep you posted. Here is our current status. All four walls are up and a ladder/stair--which just encourages the kiddos to climb up. Yesterday it was all decorated with flowers my four year old picked in the yard. . and leaves pulled from the branches she and her friend could reach. We need solid walls and a rail double quick! Before we have a job site injury.

Tree House Update

We didn't get as far as we would have liked on the tree house this weekend. There is something entirely dissatisfying about spending hours pre-drilling and screwing the deck down. There is no big impact when you are done--at least not visually. And despite the fact that this little house on stilts likely wouldn't pass inspection, we are learning a lot from the project.

Oh yeah, I am looking good!

Because she is cute.

Mmmm. . .Dew--I mean, nice deck!Finally taking shape.

Siggy, looking sassy in her mismatched jams.

To Be Continued. . . .

Weekend Progress

I have always been a project-aholic. Not so much because I love the process (sometimes I hate the process) but because I love the result and the right to say, "We did that ourselves." But Saturday was such a beautiful day, and the weather was perfect - in the seventies. The air had a slightly humid softness to it that makes me cheery. I actually enjoyed working on the tree house. The girls kept coming out every half hour or so to see if we had made any discernible progress and Signe passed the time on one of her favorite spots - the swing. Signe has had a love of swings since she was about two. She spent hours on our neighbor's swing, sometimes just sitting there staring at the yard, not swinging. (I find this amusing because as a baby she HATED the baby swing).
This outfit was cuter before the Italian Ice got to it.

Anyway, here are pictures of our progress so far . . .

This last one is a view from the platform toward the house. We would have finished the decking, but we ran out of wood.

We had friends over for a BBQ last night and his first comment was, "I love how you made is out of sight from your house but quite visible to the neighbors!" Honestly, that was not my intent, but the spot was crying out for a playhouse/fort of some kind. Unfortunately, this is how it will sit for the rest of the week. I will post more progress next weekend.